Dragon Ball Z has had an amazing impact on pop culture. Whether you know it from actually viewing it or have seen the parodies, were a fan of the anime or manga, if you’re in my age group, it’s hard to avoid exposure to it. Naturally, there’s a ton of video games based on it to. Like the show’s episodes or any merchandise based on it, it can be pretty much hit or miss. One of the biggest hits has been the Boudokai series, eventually turning into the Tenkaichi series. The latest in the series would be Boudokai Tenkaichi 3, the game I’m reviewing today. But don’t take my word for it, Goku, what game am I reviewing? (Clip: Goku saying the game title) for the Wii (as well as the PS2, but that’s not the version I have). Oh, and speaking of the pop culture parodies, this means I get to reference my favorite meme.
The game play in this game is really something to be enjoyed. It’s a fighting game, but far from what you’d normally expect from one. You get to fully move in a 3D area; and when I say fully, I mean that you can not only walk around the ground, but also fly upwards, adding more DIMENTION to the gameplay, hahaha. Your basic controls include attacking, blocking and quick dashing. Of course, the main attraction to this game (and DBZ in general) is the energy attacks. You charge up attacks to a certain point, and then using a button command, launch attacks at your enemies. I have to say though, I am really impressed by the fact that each character has unique attacks, and there are A LOT of character. I would have expected some repetition after a while, but it still keeps it fresh.
The last thing I want to mention about the gameplay is that you can play with either the Wii-mote nunchuck or the Gamecube or classic controllers. I originally tried the nunchuck, but this required having to do specific movements for each different ki energy move. This is a sever handicap in fighting games requiring split second attacks. If you don’t have one yet, I you should really get a classic or Gamecube controller to play the Wii version.
As expected, there is a story mode in this game that follows closely with the original Dragon Ball Z story as well part of the Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball GT series. These are condensed to say the least and skip a lot, such as much of the Ginyu team fights. Though you could whine about how these fights were entertaining and still quite possible, I really like the condense version supplied. This is mostly because it skips most of the filler from the series: once you cut a lot of it out and get the basic of the series, you see it for how good it actually is. It involves excellent sci-fi, deep conflicts in personal pasts and father-son relations. I forgot how good it really was, lost in all the screaming of “powering up” and this really reawakened my fandom for it.
Now, this technically being a fighter game, I was expecting that once I finish the story mode that I wouldn’t have much to do on my own. Know what? I was wrong! First off, there’s the world tournaments mode. This seems to take it a slight step beyond the normal tournaments by only letting certain tournaments be available at certain times and making each one unique. There’s also the Ultimate battle mode, which contains one “sim” like training mode and another mode with specific team battles, and finishing them all is as fun as the story mode. There’s also the evolution Z area, which lets you upgrade and customize each character, and with so many available, it can keep you busy for a while. But I think what might keep most gamers interested are the Dragon Balls. You collect them randomly by fighting (or sometimes as tournament prizes) and when all 7 are together, you get to make a wish. This is how you unlock certain characters and stages, so if you want the full experience, get ready to play. So, surprisingly, this game defiantly has more to offer then just fights to it, and will probably keep you playing for a while.
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